Hydrotherapy

[Bev55]

How great it is to have discovered this site and hear some of your stories!

Am just over 4 weeks post op of a PKR and empathize with virtually all of the issues raised in recent posts. From issues such as sleeplessness, tears, frustration over rate of progress, all the things I can't do and that feeling of one step forward two steps back - really familiar eperiences!

The diary sounds like a great idea. I wrote a brief day be day in hospital and then an overall for the second week, but stopped there. I may take it up again as it is amazing how much you forget from day to day and clearly provides a good form of inspiration.

Just wondering if any of you have tried hydrotherapy. Any pros or cons or lessons to be learned? I had my first session last week and found it to be good.

 

[Sue]

I've been doing hydrotherapy at my physical therapist's office for about a month. They have a small hydrotherapy pool. They've taught me a bunch of exercises that I can do on my own at the local municipal pool. I've been going to the pool during a wonderful quiet session that they call "Therapy Zone," when part of the pool is roped off for people who want to do their own thing. It's mostly other folks like me who are going through PT, some who have the same physical therapist as I do.

The exercises are pretty much the same as what I do on land, but so much easier in the water! And there are some things I can do with no impact on my knees by doing them in deep water, such as jumping jacks.

I love the water! The only problem is, we have a lot of MRSA, a type of staph infection, going around in our part of the country (Pacific Northwest USA) right now. I picked up a staph infection at the pool and I have to stay away from it for a few weeks.

 

[Josephine]

Yes, that would be my primary concern - the possibility of infection. You could avoid this by getting some waterproof dressings to cover your wound even though it seems reasonable healed. Always best to take precautions.

The one I would go for is called "Op-Site" and is like a sheet of clear polythene that is completely self-adhesive therefore unlikely to come adrift in the water.

But there ain't nothing like water for making the exercises easier!

 

[Bev55]

Thanks for the advice on this. If an infection is contracted, what are the likely symptoms?

 

[Sue]

I didn't actually contract my staph infection through my surgery wound. My scar has healed really nicely!

I have some mild acne, though, so that's probably how the infection was able to make its way into my body.

The way the staph manifested was, I had what looked like a spider bite on my right upper arm. It was a raised itchy bump on my skin. I thought, "It's December--how did I get a spider bite?!" I tried not to scratch it, but I was distracted by all of the busy things leading up to Christmas and scratched it without thinking. Then there was red swelling for several inches around the bump. Plus some acne on my right shoulder started to itch.

Then I got a swollen lymph node in my right arm pit. That's when I thought I'd better get to the doctor, because I know that infection traveling through your body to the site of an artificial joint can have horrible consequences.

I've been on a sulfa drug which has got everything back under control.

When I go back to the pool again, I'm going to bring several clean towels with me each time, so I never have to use a wet towel. Apparently that is the main way that staph gets spread around--you put your wet towel down on a bench where someone else has previously put theirs, and in the steamy atmosphere of a pool and locker room, the infection can live on surfaces for a while. Normally I use the same towel when I shower before getting in the pool, after I come out of the pool, and after I shower again. But no more!

Despite this set-back, I'm really looking forward to getting back to the pool again. It is so easy to do exercises in the pool that are hard on land!

 

[Bev55]

Wow .... sounds like you had a hard time of it. I will be sure to take care when I start up my hydro again after the new year.

Prior to surgery I'd been a daily swimmer (my main form of exercise once walking went off the radar 8 years back when the OA announced itself) so I am very keen to get back in the water. Not too sure how long it will be before I am ready to start the lap swimming I used to do. Any one else out there swimming for rehab? In the meantime though I am looking forward to hydro exercises to help me get back on my feet.